vintage patterns

Saturday, August 6, 2011

I have finished a few of these pieces and am working on a skirt and dress that are nearly completed except for the hem and buttons.

I saw this fabric in the store over a year ago and thought how cute, a little bubble goth, a style Kerli posted on You Tube for Seventeen Magazine on How to make a Teddy Bear Necklace tutorial Well, I'm not sure the fabric would actually qualify according to Kerli, but, I liked it, guess I was in one of my 'I need to do something different moods.' I can also see this in an adorable little girls skirt, which I'm sure you can find either on Artfire or Etsy.

So what makes this a sweet top is the 1974 vintage pattern that was used, it is all girly, girl. I feel the length is a little too short and am thinking about adding some tulle or lace to the bottom hem. Below is the pattern:

This is a great cotton summer dress from a brown and blue ethnic print. The print reminded me of the South Sea Islands, but the pattern is a McCall's 1959 pattern. I love the full dresses of the 50s done in a tropical fabric especially the designs of Alfred Shaheen This fabric is very similar to the one in the picture of the swim suit on his web page.

And the McCall's 5235 pattern from 1959:

This is a dress I'm still working on, six months later - I had put it aside - got busy on other things - lost focus -
Borrowed my daughter's sewing machine, because it has a great buttonhole attachment and makes super clean buttonholes (my Bernina is old and requires great skill, or a lot of practice, to make the buttonholes look pretty - no time - no focus - to busy -) So, I borrowed my daughter machine, no instructions, Okay so I figured out how to wind the bobbin, thread the machine and use the button hole attachment, for the last part I downloaded some free instructions, yeah! Everything worked like a peach until I started to sew onto the dress. the machine clogged up and now the upper thread will not catch the bobbin thread, I think I messed up the timing, if a machine has such a thing. And I can't take the darn thing apart to take a look at the insides. Fail!

Enough of that on to the dress, unfinished....

Also loved the tropical print fabric and all those buttons down the front. The trim is a purple linen that picks up some of the purple in the print, the buttons are covered in the purple linen. It took me awhile to locate the exact match in color of the trim to the print, I searched high and low and finally found it. The pattern is Butterick 6548 from the 50s. The instructions have you hand stitching the buttonholes, like that is ever going to happen, it has been many years since I hand stitched buttonholes. I guess that is why I was so thrilled with the automatic button holer. Hey, I don't use a washboard anymore either, I have an electric washing machine and a dryer too! Indoor plumbing, hot and cold running water....

Now these skirts presented a problem all their own, unprinted pattern pieces! It did take me a while to figure out what the instructions meant when stating on how to attach the front pocket area. I had wanted to make the jacket also, but those pattern pieces were missing.

The skirt above is an Indian print tapestry ikat cotton fabric with vintage silver glass buttons.

I layered the buttons on the skirt above. I used a purple bottom button with a green button on that topped by a copper bead, makes for a great button. Once a gain I searched high and low for the right colored button and alas could not find one, even in my vast collection of buttons. so, I did what any self-respecting crafter or auto mechanic would and created my own, loved the look!

The skirt is from Modes Royal 1077 and would lovely in a tweed.

I am very happy that they have made sewing patterns so much easier to follow and construct, my favorite patterns to sew are Simplicity, I think the name says it all.

If you know of blogs that blog about reproduction vintage clothing, using patterns or clothing I would love to have a link to them, please share, thanks!

About Me

I love vintage and fashion! You can find me creating vintage reproduction dresses using one of my many vintage patterns and fabric from my enormousstash. Traveling is another love of mine and occasionally I post about some of the great trips we have taken, love taking photo of these trips. And in between my pastimes I'll be listing some lovely finds in my Etsy and Artfire shops and provide some warm and loving caregiving to my clients. Cheers!